16 Best-Selling Beauty Products From Around the World
The pandemic has forever changed so much, but especially our travel visions and plans. We've canceled countless vacations, weddings, and holiday visits, and lockdown orders have forced us to get more creative with our OOO days. But just because we've been limited in terms of physical travel, doesn't mean we can't mentally escape to the far reaches of the Earth — daydreaming of future tropical destinations and bustling city landscapes that give New York City and Los Angeles a run for their culture (and money).
In fact, let Allure help you explore. You are here — "here" being a wide world of stunning eye shadow, vibrant hair color, and sweet-smelling soaps. In honor of our Best of Global Beauty issue — and our three showstopping cover stars, Anitta from Brazil, CL from South Korea, Tiwa Savage from Nigeria — we've mapped out some of the most desirable beauty products on the planet right now. (Just please don't use this to navigate anything beyond your beauty journey. It is not, we repeat not, an actual world map.)
Allow us to take you globe-trotting (virtually, of course) and drop a pin of some of our favorite products from around the world — some of which happen to be the best sellers of an entire country. Pretty impressive, right? Time to book your imaginary plane ticket and gather some beauty inspiration from your neighbors, both near and far.
A version of this story originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of Allure. Learn how to subscribe here.
All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
- 1/16
54 Thrones
54 Thrones Butter
With shea butter ethically sourced from Uganda and Ghana, this luxurious 54 Thrones Butter works wonders for both the face and body. The rich, buttery formula douses every inch of dry skin in moisturizing coconut baobab and mango — no wonder it made Oprah's iconic Favorite Things List.
- 2/16
The Ordinary
The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution
The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution is an ultra-affordable exfoliating gift from our lovely neighbors to the north, Canada. It's made the viral rounds on TikTok, partially because of its "vampire facial"-like effect.
The blood-red formula is packed with glycolic, lactic, tartaric, citric, and salicylic acid, making this at-home peel a top pick for improving skin texture and reducing blemishes. And don't worry, there are also soothing ingredients like hyaluronic acid and aloe to ensure your skin feels soft to the touch after the treatment is rinsed off.
- 3/16
Grown Alchemist
Grown Alchemist Lip Balm Antioxidant+3 Complex
We fell first for this Australian brand's heavenly body creams, but its perfectly slippery Lip Balm Antioxidant+3 Complex, made with watermelon seed extract and shea butter, is now a mainstay in our collections. If you didn't already know, watermelon is packed with vitamins and antioxidants for protection against free radicals, while shea butter deeply hydrates and prevents moisture loss. Elasticity-boosting argan and rosehip oils round out this rich treatment perfect for combatting dry, chapped lips any time of the day or night.
- 4/16
Natura Brasil
Natura Ekos Murumuru Restoring Hair Mask
Brazilians know hair care. This restorative Natura Ekos Murumuru Restoring Hair Mask is made with murumuru butter and brings hair at least two points higher on the highly scientific Gisele (Bündchen) scale. In non-celebrity speak, that means less visible damage and improved elasticity, shine, and frizz control.
- 5/16
Live Tinted
Live Tinted Hueglow
We're big fans of South-Asian beauty entrepreneur Deepica Mutyala, and her Live Tinted Hueglow is one of our favorite highlighters from the past year. The serum-meets-moisturizer texture of this made-in-the-U.S. blend adds an otherworldly sheen whatever you want it, whether that's on top of makeup or on its own. The micro-shimmer liquid is available in two shades: Dawn (rose gold; pictured above) and Dusk (bronze) and packed with sustainably sourced squalane to sail across skin like butter.
- 6/16
Clé de Peau Beauté
Clé de Peau Beauté Volumizing Cream Supreme
Some of our top skin-care goals include the words "dewy" and "plump." This buttery Clé de Peau Beauté Volumizing Cream Supreme from one of our favorite Japanese brands hits both objectives right on the head. Ingredients like watercress extract and shea butter support collagen production for an instant fine-line-smoothing effect and provide up to 24 hours of skin-hugging moisture. You'll understand the hype as soon as this silky cream glides across your skin — after all, this luxurious formula actually contains hydrolyzed silk, too.
- 7/16
Odist
Odist Cheek & Sculpt 012
If we're being honest, Allure editors have more makeup brushes than any human face needs. But the shape of this vegan, synthetic fiber Cheek & Sculpt 012 from Dubai-based brand Odist hits all the right angles. It pairs perfectly with contour or blush, depending on the look (sculpted versus soft and natural) you're trying to achieve.
- 8/16
AHC
AHC Essential Real Eye Cream for Face
For years, Korean actors used eye creams as allover facial treatments, but for the rest of us, that's a little too pricey. So in 2019, AHC (a beloved skin-care brand in South Korea) created this slightly lighter version of their own eye cream, Essential Real Eye Cream for Face, to be used from forehead to chin. Now, one bottle of the peptide-rich formula sells every three seconds in South Korea.
- 9/16
Huda Beauty
Huda Beauty Naughty Nude Eyeshadow Palette
Eye makeup sales in China have skyrocketed 150 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, and this 18-shade palette of rich browns and shimmering plums sold out on the Double 11 shopping holiday in November. The Huda Beauty Naughty Nude Eyeshadow Palette is the most-talked-about beauty product on Weibo (China's equivalent of Instagram), where it has been nicknamed "Crispy Chocolate" because its range of browns reminds fans of a local chocolate brand. (Having a nickname in China is a big marker of success.)
- 10/16
Banila Co.
Banila Co Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm Nourishing
Double-cleansing is one of those skin-care practices we'll probably never go back on. This best-selling, hypoallergenic Banila Co Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm Nourishing is a beloved K-beauty first step and swiftly melts away dirt and your most stubborn waterproof makeup. This banana-colored jar is packed with ginseng berry and royal jelly for intense moisturization, but the three-in-one cleansers also come in Clarifying, Original, Purifying, and Revitalizing formulas.
- 11/16
Maybelline New York
Maybelline New York Instant Age Rewind Concealer
Here's something to think about when you can't sleep tonight: 30 to 35 percent of adults have insomnia (difficulty going to sleep, staying asleep, or waking too early). And those numbers have likely shot up during the pandemic, say researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. So when you're scrolling through Amazon at 2 a.m. (just us?), add this Maybelline New York Instant Age Rewind Concealer, which has a handy sponge-tip applicator, to your cart. As the best-selling makeup product on Amazon in Spain (and a past Best of Beauty and Readers' Choice Award winner), it has hidden an entire country's signs of sleepless nights.
- 12/16
Compagnie de Provence
Compagnie de Provence Savon Liquide Marseille
While we were stockpiling toilet paper and beans, the French were buying luxury hand soaps (with sales up 800 percent last spring) and fragrances (one of the most resilient beauty categories in France, according to the NPD Group, which monitors prestige beauty sales.) This particular coconut oil-based Compagnie de Provence Savon Liquide Marseille soap is gentle, surfactant-free (a commonly avoided example is sodium laurel sulfate), and delicately scented (shown above in the Rose Sauvage scent). It's a best seller at Paris's upscale La Grande Epicerie grocer and the world over — in fact, one bottle sells every minute.
- 13/16
L'Oréal Paris
L'Oréal Paris Magic Root Cover Up
There aren't a lot of roots showing in the U.S. After stay-at-home orders were issued last March and many salons closed temporarily nationwide, online sales of at-home hair color went up 115 percent, according to e-commerce market research firm Stackline & Company. The most popular dye on Amazon is actually a temporary one: L'Oréal Paris's Magic Root Cover Up. The sprayable can comes in eight shades that obscure grays until you shampoo. It also happens to be the best-selling root-coverage product in the world, with one bottle selling every four seconds.
- 14/16
Natura Brasil
Natura Ekos Castanha Hand Cream
Natura is a gargantuan beauty force in South America's largest country, Brazil. The brand's hair, makeup, and skin care include locally sourced ingredients (they say they help preserve more than 4.4 million acres of the Amazon rain forest). This year's top-selling product, the Ekos Castanha Hand Cream, contains castanha nut oil to soften dry, cracked texture and restore your moisture barrier. One sells every six seconds, which is surely impressive, but maybe not surprising considering we've spent a good portion of the past year washing our hands.
- 15/16
Mecca Cosmetics
Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF 50+ Superscreen Oxybenzone Free Formula
The country that perfected beachy waves has also perfected invisible sunscreen. One bottle of this matte Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face SPF 50+ Superscreen Oxybenzone Free Formula is sold every two minutes at Mecca, a beauty retailer with 100 locations across Australia and New Zealand. (For those who aren't privy, oxybenzone is a highly-debated ingredient commonly found in chemical sunscreens.) That's because it layers so well between skin care and foundation — the top sellers at Mecca are Go To Face Hero Face Oil and Nars Sheer Glow Foundation, respectively.
- 16/16
Dior
Dior Vernis Nail Lacquer in Rouge 999
You've heard of the lipstick effect, in which lipstick sales go up in times of economic uncertainty? Well, COVID-19 has brought us the nail polish effect, says the NPD Group. This is especially true in the U.K. After nonessential businesses (like salons) had to close, sales of nail polish spiked 18 percent and this classic Dior Vernis Nail Lacquer in Rouge 999 (the same shade as one of our favorite red lipsticks) was one of the best-selling shades.
By Kristie Dash
By Allure Editors
By Angela Trakoshis
By Deanna Pai